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3 Disturbing Trends Revealed in PotashCorp’s Earnings Report

Why PotashCorp's revenues and profits could take a bigger hit going forward.

PotashCorp(NYSE:POT) is turning out to be among the worst performers of 2015. The stock has lost roughly 6% since the fertilizer giant reported its third-quarter numbers earlier this month, taking its year-to-date losses to a staggering 41% as of this writing. That hugely lags the broader market, as well as peer stocks Mosaic(NYSE:MOS) and Agrium.

While all three companies operate in similar business conditions, PotashCorp loses out because of its greater exposure to its namesake nutrient, potash, the market for which is battling several headwinds at the moment. Comparatively, Mosaic is more focused on phosphates, and Agrium has a diversified portfolio that includes seeds and crop protection products.

However, a challenging potash market isn't the only concern, as PotashCorp's third-quarter earnings report revealed. The company downgraded its full-year earnings outlook, but there's a lot more going that could hurt its revenues and profits even further. The slideshow below highlights three such worrisome trends that you must know about.

Author

A Fool since 2011, Neha has a keen interest in materials, industrials, and mining sectors. Her favorite pastime: Digging into 10Qs and 10Ks to pull out important information about a company and its operations that an investor may otherwise not know. Other days, you may find her decoding the big moves in stocks that catch her eye. Check back at Fool.com for her articles, or follow her on Twitter.
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